Welcome! Hello, and welcome to the Certificate IV in Property (Real Estate) toolbox. My name is Cliff Martin and I am the Principal and Agency Licensee of the Virtual Realty Real Estate Agency here in Blue Sky City. My team and I will be working closely with you through this course. This orientation will explain how to use this Toolbox as you complete your online studies. About Virtual Realty The office of Virtual Realty Real Estate is located right in the CBD of Blue Sky City. Mr Cliff Martin, who is the Agency Licensee, started the business in 1990. Virtual Realty is a medium sized agency, which has established itself as the industry leader through a commitment to integrity in all its business operations and a focus on the needs of its clients. Specialising in residential properties, Virtual Realty is a member of the Real Estate Institute of Blue Sky City (REIBS) and takes an active role in the community, sponsoring the local kindergarten and several sporting events through the year. There are twelve staff members at Virtual Realty; five of whom will assist you in this course. Cliff Martin: Principal and Agency Licensee staff. Cliff has been involved in real estate in Blue Sky City for the last 35 years. In 1976, Cliff won 'Representative of the Year' and then opened his first agency two years later. In 1990, Cliff opened Virtual Realty with only three staff - it has now grown to a team of 12 Cliff manages all the operations of Virtual Realty, with a particular focus on risk management. Cliff's experience and helpful attitude makes him a great support for the staff. Gail Vanderburg: Sales Manager Gail manages the group of Sales Consultants at Virtual Realty, and has been working in real estate for the past seven years. Gail has won 'Agent of the Year' twice in recognition of achieving the highest residential sales in Blue Sky City. Elaine Chang: Property Manager Elaine has been with Virtual Realty for just over five years, and is responsible for the management of around 70 properties within Blue Sky City. Most of Elaine's portfolio is residential properties, however she also manages some commercial interests. Rick Hamilton: Real Estate Sales Consultant Rick is the most successful real estate consultant at Virtual Realty, and has a great flair for maximising every opportunity for his clients. Rick gets many new and repeat customers and tends to sell his properties quickly, getting the best possible price for his vendors. Michael Scott: Auctioneer Recently it has become quite popular in Blue Sky City to conduct a property sale via auction. Michael conducts all the auctions for Virtual Realty, whether the property is for his own client or a colleague's. His specialist auctioneering services are also used by other agencies within Blue Sky City.
Blue Sky City Blue Sky City is a vibrant and modern city situated on the Tandarra River, with the sapphire Carribie Sea to the west and the ancient Garriden Ranges to the east. It's a community of people with a range of occupations and leisure pursuits. We deal with properties in both residential areas and the Central Business District of Blue Sky City, which is where the Virtual Realty office is situated. NOTE: The Virtual Realty Real Estate Agency, Blue Sky City and all other persons or organisations used in this Toolbox are fictitious entities. Virtual Realty office The Virtual Realty office is your course homepage and provides access to many important parts of this online course. The office links to: Diary Orientation Briefcase Laptop Training Room Tips Credits, and Disclaimer. Further information about these items can be found later in this orientation. About your course This online course has been designed to help you acquire the skills and knowledge required to work as a real estate sales person in Australia. You will be covering the following units of competence from the Certificate IV in Property (Real Estate), part of the nationally endorsed Property and Development Training Package: a) Core units: PRDRE10A Manage agency risk PRDRE11A Provide property appraisal PRDRE12A Establish and expand client base PRDRE13A Obtain property listings PRDRE14A Market property PRDRE22A Present and explain property reports PRDRE30A Implement personal marketing plan PRDRE37A Perform and record property management activities and transactions PRDPOD62A Clarify and confirm property information requirements Elective units: PRDRE15A Undertake property sale by private treaty PRDRE16A Monitor sales process PRDRE17A Effectively manage property and account to landlord PRDRE21A Property development and marketing services PRDRE26A Conduct property sale by auction PRDRE32A Maintain and protect conditions of rented properties PRDRE37A Perform and record property management activities and transactions PRDRE39A Prepare and execute documentation BSXFMI404A Participate in, lead and facilitate work teams If you already have knowledge of and/or experience in the real estate industry, you may be eligible for recognition of your skills. Your online teacher can tell you more about this.
The diary gives you access to all the learning units for your course, which are grouped into the following three streams: Business Practices Property Management Sales Agency Services Each of these streams contains separate learning units, which you need to work through. You will access these learning units by: Clicking on the diary Selecting a stream Selecting a learning unit from the list. If you want to view the performance criteria for any of these learning units, click the performance criteria link that shows at the bottom of the list of learning units. This will take you to a page where you can read through the performance criteria for all learning units in the stream. Course structure For each learning unit, there will be at least one task you need to complete. The task page is the first screen that you will see once you've selected a learning unit from the diary. The task page contains: a description of the task, the steps/components covered in the Training Manual for the learning unit, what you need to do in order to complete the task, any additional resources needed to complete the task, and a link to the Training Manual for that learning unit. This is a very important section of the learning unit and we suggest that you print it out, as you will refer to it regularly while you work through the task. The task(s) for each learning unit are accessed through the icons in the left bar on the task page. This navigation bar is also displayed when you are in the Training Manual so you can return to the task page easily if required.
Training Manual If you need assistance or more information to complete a task, you should open the Training Manual. This contains relevant and helpful information about each step of the task and gives you the option of accessing even more detailed information and learning exercises. The Training Manual also contains links to other helpful information such as: tips, glossary terms and examples of documents, public opinion in Blue Sky City, and common scenarios. The Training Manual can be accessed from the task page for each unit or from the Training Room. Each Training Manual is divided into steps or components that are differentiated by a coloured numbered tab (square), which you click on to access the information for that step/component. Each step within the Training Manual will have one or more pages and you can move through these by clicking the numbers in the navigation bar at the bottom of the screen to go directly to a specific page within the step, or by clicking the 'Back' and 'Next' buttons to navigate one page at a time. Top navigation bar This navigation bar is present at all times when you are in a task page or the Training Manual. By clicking the icons in the navigation bar, you can navigate to: the Virtual Realty office, your Diary, Briefcase and Laptop, the Training Room, and Communication tools. Some of these links have submenus so that when you click on the icon, lists of sub menu items appears underneath (as shown in the picture above). From this sub-menu, you can click on the section or resource that you want to access.
Resources you will use In order to complete a task, you will need to use the resources that are provided. These resources are very similar to those that are used by real estate agents. The resources that you will use are contained in either your Laptop or Briefcase and are as follows: Laptop o REIBS website - this is the website for the Real Estate Institute of Blue Sky and it contains a properties for sales and sold database, archived news articles, buyer's guide and suburb profiles. o Government of Blue Sky City website - this contains government information such as properties sold and Certificates of Title for properties. o Databases - this contains all the databases used at Virtual Realty. Briefcase o Dictionary - contains definitions of commonly used real estate terms. o Forms - contains templates of all the forms used at Virtual Realty. o Marketing Material - contains all the marketing material used at Virtual Realty. o Map - a map of Blue Sky City that links to certain properties to show photos and floor plans, and contains profiles on each suburb. These resources can be accessed from the items on the table in the Virtual Realty office and also via the top navigation bar in any task or Training Manual page within the learning units. Using the resources The following section explains how to use three of the main resources. The Blue Sky City Map. To view a suburb profile, click on either the suburb on the map or the suburb name on the list. Click a thumbnail to display an enlarged photo of the suburb and read about its main features.
To view a particular property, locate the suburb and street and click on the house number. Click the buttons on the left to view thumbnails of different areas of the property, then click on a thumbnail to view an enlarged photo. Click 'Back to map' to return to the map when you've finished looking at a property. REIBS website Clicking the 'REIBS Property Database' link will allow you to search REIBS for properties sold or for sale. You can narrow your selection criteria by choosing options in the dropdown boxes. Clicking the 'Archived Articles' link will display a list of the titles available. Choose a title from the list to display an article.
There is also a search facility available with this, you can search the entire collection of Archived Articles for specific text. Clicking the 'Buyer's Guide' link will open a PDF of a guide that provides information on buying property. Clicking the 'Suburb Profiles' link will display a list of suburbs in Blue Sky City that you can click on to open a PDF containing a profile of that suburb. Government of Blue Sky City website This resource has several sections, including the Planning Division which contains lots of useful information on building and property development in Blue Sky City.
Click on the 'Certificate of Title' link to conduct a search for the Certificate of Title for a specific property. You can search for a property by typing in the address. Selecting a property will display the Certificate of Title. After viewing, close this window to return to the Government of Blue Sky City website. Click on 'Properties' to access the Government of Blue Sky City sold property database, which works in the same way as the REIBS property database. Training Room The Training Room contains learning resources such as: Training Manuals for each learning unit, website links, puzzles, books, and a photography guide. You can move your mouse over each icon in the room for a description of what it contains. To select a resource from the Training Room, simply click on the appropriate icon. For some resources you may need to make a selection from a list presented to open the desired resource. The Training Room can be accessed from the office homepage and also the top navigation bar in the Training Manual and task pages.
Communication Tools This contains the communication tools that you will use to communicate with other students in your course. Your online teacher will let you know how you will be using these tools. The tools you will use are: Email - to keep in contact with your online teacher and other learners in your group. Discussion board - to share ideas and knowledge with others. Chat - to take part in 'real-time' discussions with others. Your online teacher may ask you to use the Communication Tools as part of your tasks. An example would be if you were asked to post your answer to a specific question to the Discussion board. Summary That concludes your orientation. You might like to take a few moments now to explore your course and practice accessing the resources. The team at Virtual Realty wishes you every success in your real estate career, and we hope that you enjoy your time with us.